"From your first encounter to your final vows."
— Cupid Corporation's Slogan
Welcome to Los York! Home to many grand sights and the Cupid Corporation, the biggest matchmaking agency in the entire metropolis.
There you step into the role of Lynette Mirror (Though the player can change it if they want), who, in reality is actually Cupid herself, who had decided to come to earth to raise the human world's marriage rates in a bid to prove to her father that humans don't need the intervention of the Gods to find love.
In order to get a promotion, Lynette is tasked with a near-impossible task: Help the Parasite 5 (Five men whose quirks and behaviors make them unable to get a partner) get married! From Live TV shows to behind scenes drama, what is our Heroine to do?
Cupid Parasite is an Otome Romance Game developed by Otomate and published by Idea Factory in 2020 for the Nintendo Switch, with Idea Factory International publishing the game in English in 2021.
A fandisc of the game, titled Cupid Parasite -Sweet & Spicy Darling.- was released in Japan on November 30, 2023. The game is slated for an international release in May 28, 2024.
This visual novel provides the following examples:
- All Deaths Final: If a God dies, they will stay permanently dead. This is the reason why Allan is so desperate for Lynette to fall in love - so that she'll go on become a true mortal, granting her soul access to the cycle of reincarnation, rather than just ceasing to exist entirely if she dies as a God.
- All Part of the Show:
- In Raul's route, the public takes Alexander the Great's Take Over the World proclamation to be a weird promotional stunt for Goddess Over Camel Part 2. The movie's director, inspired by said footage, decides to run with it, and turns the movie into a fantasy romance instead.
- In the secret route several bystanders assume that Zeus' dramatic arrival on Earth is part of a movie filming.
- Arranged Marriage: Discussed. Near the end of Ryuki's route, his relatives find who they describe to be the perfect woman for him and insist on setting him up with her. Though he rejects the offer outright, he and Lynette end up attending the marriage meeting anyway so they can have a chance to talk with his family, and discover that this "perfect woman" is in fact Lynette's mother Venus, who naturally is a perfect 100 on Ryuki's beauty scale. Hilarity Ensures.
- Being God Is Hard: Jupiter certainly thinks so, as they're a friendless deity forced to make hard decisions as part of ruling the Dii Consentes, while having to always present a strong front to the rest of the Gods under him. Not to mention the fact that he's constantly looking over his shoulder in fear of his evil brother coming back. They mostly get over this over the course of his route, where he finds a stalwart companion and confidant in Lynette.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Near the end of the common route its shown that Peter Flage is absolutely terrified of women, often running away when a crowd of them approaches him. This extends to his true persona, Jupiter.
- The Chains of Commanding:
- Shelby, who feels compelled to go along with the ruse of being happily married in order to not bring negative attention down on his company and its workers.
- Jupiter who constantly needs to make very tough decisions as part and parcel of ruling the Dii Consentes. He mentions that his time masquerading as Chii were the only moments when he could truely rest.
- The Dandy: Ryuki is very conscious of his appearance, often to the point of consistently spraying himself and other with his face mist and follows a very strict beauty routine.
- Decomposite Character: As shown is Jupiter's route, The roman and greek versions of the god of lightning (Jupiter and Zeus respectively) are portrayed as separate characters, with the two being revealed to be twins. While Jupiter was hidden with a group of humans, Zeus was the one swallowed by Chronos.
- Deity Identity Confusion:
- Quite literally with Raul. He assumes the deity who saved him from a fatal case of food poisoning was Neptune, since the whole thing took place at a festival celebrating Neptune. After seeing a statue which he commissioned of the deity in question, Lynette realizes that his savior is actually Minerva.
- During the secret route, Zeus reveals that, after titanomachy, he travelled to Egypt and proceeded to become its God of creation. However he did so in his divine animal form rather than his human form, which caused people to assume that the Egyptian God and him were completely separate deities.
- Divine Date: Lynette, a god masquerading as a mortal, can romance various mortal men. This is lampshaded by Raul after he discovers that Lynette is Cupid, where he gleefully wonders if he's going to be the star of a brand new myth.
- Divine Ranks: The twelve Gods of Dii Consentes rule supreme, rarely interacting with the lesser Gods below them. Allan and Jupiter's routes reveal that the lesser Gods are actually angels who have been elevated to divinity in order replace the Gods who were slain during titanomachy, and thus have finite lifespans due to their divine artifacts draining their lifeforce with each use. The divide between higher and lower God is due to the fact that the lower Gods are constantly replaced once they reach the end of their life.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Gil will not give up on Lynette no matter what. Allan's route reveals that he and Claris worked together to fan romantic feelings for Lynette in Gil, in the hopes that he'll eventually manage to win Lynette over.
- Dream Stealer: The main form of sustenance of Succubi and Incubi is the erotic dreams of other peoples. In Allan's route, Lynette discovers that his eating of other girls' dreams is causing more and more member resignations in Cupid Corporation.
- Emissary from the Divine: Angels from Heaven are used the deliver messages from the Gods, as the Gods themselves rarely descend to the human realm due to them being affected by the realm's passing of time.
- Everyone Can See It:
- Lynette and Ryuki soon become smitten with each other, to the point where when Lynette becomes oddly distracted while at work, Melanie immediately figures out it's due to relationship troubles and goes to confront Ryuki about it.
- Lynette and Raul's chemistry is obvious to the latter's manager (who despairs over the fact that Lynette refuses to outright date the guy) and also to Minerva, who is eagerly waiting for Lynette to fall in love so she can swoop in and lay claim to the Cupid Arrows.
- Everybody Loves Zeus: Zig-zagged; the actual Zeus in this story is a megalomaniac determined to wipe out the rest of the pantheon in order to rule over humanity as its sole God. This is in contrast to his twin brother Jupiter, who is a nervy but genuinely nice guy.
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Discussed in Raul's route. After discovering that this trope is very much the case amount the stars of the Sillywood circuit, Lynette does acknowledge the abundant amount of sex which features in Greek mythology. She also muses that she was rather stunned to learn that Lord Jupiter, of all Gods, has by far the largest and most varied array of sexcapades.
- Fake Relationship: The crux of Shelby's route involves Lynette pretending to be his wife, to keep up Shelby’s "devoted husband' image.
- Fallen Angel: Allan was kicked out of Heaven after trying to prevent the Gods from turning his other half into Cupid and has since gone on to become an Incubus. Cupid herself becomes one after she renounces her divinity at the end of Allan's route.
- Following in Relative's Footsteps: Ryuki is desperate to do his grandmother proud and become the successor to the Kesaiin brand, but so far none of his designs have gotten his grandmother's approval. Trying to figure out what they're missing is the driving question for most of his route.
- Genre Shift: In-universe. Goddess Over Camel Part 2 was originally intended to be a modern day romance movie. But late in the filming the director becomes inspired after witnessing Lynette breaking Alexander the Great's hold over Raul's body, and decides to completely re-write it to be a fantasy romance instead.
- God Couple: Venus and Mars, as well as Juno and Jupiter. Jupiter's route reveals that the current Juno was actually in the relationship with Zeus, his twin brother. He and Lynette become a new godly couple at the end of his route, after she becomes the new Juno.
- God in Human Form: Lynette Mirror herself is actually Cupid, having come down to earth to help increase the marriage rate and to prove to her father that humans don't need gods. Peter Flage is the human form of Jupiter, while Catherine Spade is Venus.
- God Job: As Cupid, Lynette's role is to match make humans. The plot of the game kicks off after she decides that humans are just as capable of doing this herself, and decides to prove it to the rest of the Gods. Both Allan and Jupiter's route touch on this making Lynette to be the most obvious candiate to replace Juno, Goddess of Marriage.
- Good Bad Girl: Claris, Lynette's faithful friend who has a never-ending stream of gentleman callers. Because she's a succubus who's feeding on their dreams. After learning the truth late in Allan's route, Lynette is shocked she didn't put two and two together sooner.
- Have You Seen My God?: Several routes reveal that Juno, the Goddess of marriage has been missing for nearly two decades, which has led to the decline in marriage rate that Cupid has been blamed for. While Gods are know to leave Celestia from time to time, this disappearance is very odd due to the fact that Jupiter cannot sense the location of the missing God's Divine Artifacts. This issue gets the most focus in Jupiter's route where it's eventually discovered that Juno fled to the Underworld to try to free her lover, Jupiter's twin brother Zeus, from his imprisonment.
- High-Tech Heaven: Played straight after Lynette and Jupiter reform it at the end of the secret route, where it starts to resemble Los York.
- Holy Is Not Safe: While divine powers are harmful to demons, humans can also fall sick after spending too much time in Celestia.
- Hopeless Suitor: Gill, in every route but his own, has nearly no luck in getting Lynnette's love. The same also applies for Allan.
- Humongous Mecha: Near the end of Gill's route, his car transforms into a Transformers-style Mecha in order to battle Mars.
- Inadequate Inheritor:
- Ryuki thinks this of himself, as he believes that both his mother and sister are much better qualified to carry on the Keisaiin brand.
- Jupiter firmly believes that he's failed to fill his brother's footsteps.
- In Spite of a Nail: The secret route takes place in an alternate timeline where Lynette is ordered to study in the human world by Jupiter in order to prepare her to succeed the missing Juno as the Goddess of Marriage. Despite this change, she still crosses paths with Cupid Corp and the Parasite 5.
- Legacy Character: As shown in Raul and Allan's route, Lynette is actually the latest incarnation of Cupid, with the other Cupid's misadventures being recorded through history (Such as the story of him falling in love with Psyche).
- Love Goddess: There are two: Cupid, the matchmaker God, and Juno, the God who guides couples into marriage. The decline in marriage rate which Cupid is blamed for is actually the fault of Juno, who has long abandoned her role. Both Allan and Jupiter's routes involve the Dii Consentes trying to get Lynette to succeed Juno. Their attempts are unsuccessful in Allan's route, but bear fruit in Jupiter's.
- Love Is a Weakness: Ryuki is firmly in this camp, believing that the emotional volatility that love brings will ruin his eye for design. After his feelings for her start to trigger irregularities in Lynette's beauty ranking, he is absolutely terrified over the prospect that his sense of style may be ruined forever.
- Mayfly–December Romance:
- During Gil's route, Mars attempts to confine Lynette in Celestia for fifty years. Lynette is vehemently against this, as while a fifty year sentence is a slap on the wrist to a God, she'll only be released at the very end of Gil's natural lifespan.
- Minerva and Alexander the Great were in such a relationship. Minerva's attempt to bring Alexander's lifespan closer to her own backfires, causing him to suffer an early death.
- Our Angels Are Different: The angels in the setting are voiceless messengers of the Gods who reside in Heaven, a realm above the human world but below Celestia. They can also be elevated to minor Gods, which the Dii Consentes have being doing for millennia in order replace the Gods who were slain during titanomachy.
- Paparazzi: A constant menance in Shelby's route. Allan's route reveals that he was the one who arranged for compromising shots of Shelby and Lynette to be taken during the shooting of Parasite House, as a ploy to bring Shelby and Lynette closer together. The ones dogging Shelby on his route turn out to be Mars and a brainwashed Owen, who are trying to ruin Cupid Corporation so that Lynette will be forced to return to Celestia.
- Past-Life Memories: After he reincarnates Lynette's soul Allan fears that, if the now human Lynette regains her memories of her time as Goddess, then her divinity will also return to her. He's ultimately proven right.
- Piggyback Cute: Lynette badly injures her foot while exploring some underground ruins with Raul, which prompts Raul to try to carry her out to the surface on his back. This closeness is ultimately what causes Lynette to finally admit to herself that she's in love with him.
- Playing Against Type: In-Universe. Raul is typically known for his action movies roles, with his new film "Goddess upon the Camel's back" being his first romance film.
- Pokémon Speak: Lynette's pet divine beast, Chii, can only say his name. When his true form as Jupiter is revealed, Jupiter often says this when he's scared.
- Poor Communication Kills: Several combine to form the conflict in Ryuki's route. When he was younger, it was impressed upon him by various family members that the Keisaiin brand exclusively catered to men. Assuming this was the unspoken rule that even his grandmother subscribed to, Ryuki then decided to focus on menswear and ignore his true passion of designing ladies clothing. His grandmother, in turn, absolutely refuses to explain why she's rejected every design he's presented to her. The result is a man who is desperately striving to meet the lofty expectations he's placed on himself while having no idea why he's failing to achieve them.
- Power Gives You Wings: Gods and demons gain wings when they are using their powers to their fullest extent.
- The Power of Love: Wouldn't be a game focused on Cupid without it.
- In Raul's route, Lynette's love for him gives her the strength to wield the Cupid Bow one last time despite the fact that she's now a mortal, in order to save his life.
- In Allan's route, Lynette's love for him allows her to use Juno's divine artifact to save them both.
- In the secret route, Lynette uses the Cupid Arrows combined with the six types of love, that are embodied by the Parasite 6 to successfully seal away the almight Zeus.
- Puny Earthlings: Raul's route reveals that Minerva gifted her mortal lover, Alexander the Great, a potion that aimed to give him eternal youth. Unfortunately they misjudged exactly how fragile mortals were; while the potion does give him eternal youth, it also completely knocks out his immune system and he perishes from disease shortly after.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Allan has been trying to do this for centuries, as revenge for the Dii Consentes seperating him from Cupid and casting him out of Heaven. They've been largely unsuccessful, and in recent years they've instead decided to try and free Cupid from her divinity.
- After being unsealed from his prison in the secret route, Zeus wages war on Celestia in an attempt to become the world's sole God.
- Really Gets Around: Raul, thanks to a combination of being willing to sleep with absolutely anyone who expresses interest in him and there being no shortage of girls willing to take him up on that offer.
- Reincarnation:
- In Raul's route, It's revealed that Raul is the reincarnation of Alexander the Great, Minerva's past lover, with Minerva taking Lynette's bow and arrow in order to revive his soul in Raul.
- Lynette herself undergoes this in Allan's route. Thanks to her sleeping with a demon, her lifespan is increasingly shotened to a mere one year, resulting in Allan deciding to Mercy Kill her and reincarnate her soul so she can live on as a human.
- Reincarnation-Identifying Trait: Exaggerated. After Lynette reincarnates as a proper human, Allan is stunned to discover that not only does Lynette look the same as in her previous life, but her parents also named her Lynette. He concludes that these similarities must be the result of Lynette's godly soul quite literally bending reality around it.
- Reincarnation Romance:
- Invoked by Minerva in Raul’s route. She was in love with Alexander the Great, and takes advantage that Raul (who is Alexander’s reincarnation) is getting close with Lynette by stealing Lynette’s Bow and Arrows to pull Alexander’s soul in Raul’s body.
- After realising that his actions have significantly reduced Lynette's lifespan, Allan kills her and guides her soul to reincarnate as a human. But the memories from Lynette's first life still linger, and despite Allan's best efforts to steer clear of her in her new life, they quickly find themselves resuming their past relationship.
- Rejecting the Inheritance: Both Ryuki's mother and sister passed on the opportunity to inherit the KEISAI: IN brand, each preferring to forge their own path in life. Now Ryuki is the most obviously successor, but is struggling to prove himself to his grandmother.
- Secret Character: After finishing all 5 routes, the player can play Jupiter's route.
- Secret Test of Character: At the end of Ryuki's route, Sillywood superstar Emma Winston pays him a visit. After the metaphorically tears her outfit apart, she reveals that she deliberately wore unflattering clothing to see if he as good as everyone claimed him to be, and commissions him to design her next red carpet outfit on the spot.
- Sex Changes Everything: Raul is firmly of his opinion at the start of his route, as all of his hookups have gone south the morning after when the ladies realize that he doesn't intend for their fling to be the start of a long term thing. He's therefore rather shocked that he and Lynette manage to remain amicable with each other after the deed.
- Sex Equals Love: Occurs in Raul's route. He and Lynette fall into bed as early as chapter two, after he challenges her belief that you should only sleep with someone that you truly love. It takes quite a while after that for feelings to blossom.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: The serious, family focused Ryuki and his more flighty, free spirited sister. Their grandmother lampshades that fusing the two together would create a somewhat normal human.
- Spider-Sense: Jupiter developed a keen danger sense as a result of having to hide away from his father Cronus for most of his early life. Unfortunately, this gift also caused him to grow up into a cowardly paranoiac who jumps at the slightest bump in the night.
- Succubi and Incubi: Early in Allan's route, it's revealed that he is actually an Incubus, a demon who eats the dreams of other people by invading them while taking on their ideal partner. Allan's route also reveals that Lynette's college partner and roommate, Claris, is a Succubus.
- Taking Over Heaven: After Zeus is unsealed from his prison in Jupiter's route, he aims to take over Celestia so he can by worshipped by humanity as it's one true God.
- Their First Time: Raul and Lynette first fall into bed together during the second chapter of his route, but at that point love is not involved in the equation at all. The third time they sleep with each other is actually the first time they're doing so as two people in love, and it's treated with all the reverence of most couples' first time.
- Lynette and Allan's first union has significant plot importance, as Allan taking Lynette's innocence turns out to be the equivalent of him stealing her soul, and Lynette's lifespan drastically shortens as a consequence.
- The Matchmaker: Lynnette is too busy playing Cupid (literally) to even consider finding love herself at the beginning of the game. This is all much to the chagrin of Claris and Allan.
- Top God: Jupiter, the all powerful leader of the Dii Consentes. He inherited this position after his brother Zeus, the previous Top God, was sealed away by the other deities of the Dii Consentes.
- Unexpected Virgin: Allan, who's bedded countless women in their dreams but has never actually done the deed in the waking world. Lynette is absolutely gobsmacked when she finds out.
- Virgin Power: Lynette's status as Cupid is this. Should she ever give her heart (and body) to a human in love, her powers will desert her and she will revert to being a mortal. This becomes a plot point in several routes. Minerva is actively encouraging Lynette to fall in love with Raul in his route, so that the Cupid Arrows will abandon her. Allan's route reveals he has been desperately trying to matchmake Lynette with a human so she turns mortal before her stint as Cupid runs out, as that will allow her soul to enter the cycle of reincarnation rather than fade away completely.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Ryuki is in an uphill struggle to win the approval of his grandmother, as none of the designs he's presented to her have been up to her standards. He finally gets her seal of approval in the finale of his route, after he accepts his love for both Lynette and designing women's fashion.
